Abstract

Marrying traditional methods of computer programming with an artistic temperament allows the birth of a new phenomenon: the aesthetic program. The work of the author and his students builds on visual ap-proaches in programming as well as in software modeling, leading toward a gradual evolution from program to model. The need for the aes-thetic model is increased with the importance of personalized, individually tailored media, as found with web-based style sheets and the economic movement termed “mass customization.” The author and his students have formulated the rube Project methodology around the use of 3D web-based virtual-world model construction. Initial results suggest that these models are artistic, while containing symbolism and concise metaphoric mapping sufficient to be executable on a computer.